Aug 12

Aug 12 Constance Emmett

Author Constance Emmett

Biography

Constance was born in Brooklyn, New York, where her mother’s family landed after leaving Belfast, Northern Ireland. Raised in the New York area, she grew up in the home of great readers, and became one herself. Writing detective fiction as a nine-year-old, she peppered the pages with snappy dialogue.

At age twenty-eight, she moved to the Boston area where she was lucky enough to meet her wife, and disciplined just enough to complete a B.S. and M.S. in Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Unfortunately, she abandoned her writing while in college and graduate school—fortunately, it was not a forever abandonment.

For nearly thirty years she worked as a biologist in research and development, and in quality control. The writing itch hit again, this time prompted by a televised interview of novelist Sarah Waters in 2004. Waters explained that she’d written Tipping the Velvet because she wanted to write what she wanted to read. Struck to the core by that explanation, Constance began writing again. She’s spent the last fifteen years writing steadily—mostly on the weekends for ten of those years—and producing two novels and several short stories, before polishing her novel, Heroine of Her Own Life, with editor/award-winning historical novelist Donna Russo Morin (https://donnarussomorin.com/), and Vanessa O’Loughlin’s Inkwell group at writing.ie. (https://www.writing.ie).

Constance’s fiction incorporates her love of origins as well as journeys taken at a walking pace. The Irish family stories found a lifelong home in Constance, and formed her as a writer. She creates characters who feel dislocation and regret but have the resilience common to all survivors.

She lives with her wife and their dog in the foothills of the Berkshires. Both women were raised in the city, but they love almost everything about country life.

Constance holds dual U.S. and Republic of Ireland citizenship.

A member of the Historical Novel Society, Writing.ie Emerging Writers, Writer’s Digest, and the Historical Writers of America, she is a fan of all things DIY MFA (https://diymfa.com/). Constance was admitted to the Belfast Titanic Society, thanks to her great-aunt Margaret’s career at Harland and Wolff.